Agatha Christie (Author of And Then There Were None) Mystery , Crime , Thriller Influences edit data Agatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan . Agatha Christie is the best-selling author of all time. She wrote eighty crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and several other books. Her books have sold roughly four billion copies and have been translated into 45 languages. She is the creator of the two most enduring figures in crime literature-Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple-and author of The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theatre. Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born in Torquay, Devon, England, U.K., as the youngest of three. The Millers had two other children: Margaret Frary Miller (1879–1 Agatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan . Agatha Christie is the best-selling author of all time. She wrote eighty crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and several other books.

Her books have sold roughly four billion copies and have been translated into 45 languages. She is the creator of the two most enduring figures in crime literature-Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple-and author of The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theatre. Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born in Torquay, Devon, England, U.K., as the youngest of three. The Millers had two other children: Margaret Frary Miller (1879–1950), called Madge, who was eleven years Agatha's senior, and Louis Montant Miller (1880–1929), called Monty, ten years older than Agatha. During the First World War, she worked at a hospital as a nurse; later working at a hospital pharmacy, a job that influenced her work, as many of the murders in her books are carried out with poison. On Christmas Eve 1914 Agatha married Archibald Christie, an aviator in the Royal Flying Corps. The couple had one daughter, Rosalind Hicks. They divorced in 1928, two years after Christie discovered her husband was having an affair.

Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, came out in 1920. During this marriage, Agatha published six novels, a collection of short stories, and a number of short stories in magazines. In late 1926, Agatha's husband, Archie, revealed that he was in love with another woman, Nancy Neele, and wanted a divorce. On 8 December 1926 the couple quarreled, and Archie Christie left their house Styles in Sunningdale, Berkshire, to spend the weekend with his mistress at Godalming, Surrey. That same evening Agatha disappeared from her home, leaving behind a letter for her secretary saying that she was going to Yorkshire. Her disappearance caused an outcry from the public, many of whom were admirers of her novels. Despite a massive manhunt, she was not found for eleven days. In 1930, Christie married archaeologist Max Mallowan (Sir Max from 1968) after joining him in an archaeological dig. Their marriage was especially happy in the early years and remained so until Christie's death in 1976. In 1977, Mallowan married his longtime associate, Barbara Parker.

Christie frequently used familiar settings for her stories. Christie's travels with Mallowan contributed background to several of her novels set in the Middle East. Other novels (such as And Then There Were None) were set in and around Torquay, where she was born. Christie's 1934 novel Murder on the Orient Express was written in the Hotel Pera Palace in Istanbul, Turkey, the southern terminus of the railway. The hotel maintains Christie's room as a memorial to the author. The Greenway Estate in Devon, acquired by the couple as a summer residence in 1938, is now in the care of the National Trust. Christie often stayed at Abney Hall in Cheshire, which was owned by her brother-in-law, James Watts. She based at least two of her stories on the hall: the short story The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding, which is in the story collection of the same name, and the novel After the Funeral. "Abney became Agatha's greatest inspiration for country-house life, with all the servants and grandeur which have been woven into her plots.

During the Second World War, Christie worked in the pharmacy at University College Hospital of University College, London, where she acquired a knowledge of poisons that she put to good use in her post-war crime novels. To honour her many literary works, she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1956 New Year Honours. The next year, she became the President of the Detection Club. In the 1971 New Year Honours she was promoted Dame Commander o ...more Mary Westmacott | Agatha Christie Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Edit The name Mary Westmacott was one chosen by Christie with great care. Mary was Christie's own middle name, and Westmacott the name of some family relatives. Mary Westmacott is a distinct person from Agatha Christie. In 1950, when she was invited to a celebration for her work, she quipped, "Thank you for asking me to meet Agatha Christie. If you don't mind, I am bringing my old friend Mary Westmacott with me." The Westmacott novels were simply written for "fun," to put it loosely.

Christie had said in her autobiography that she wanted "to do something that is not my proper job," i.e., writing detective novels. She said she wrote the first, Giant's Bread, with a "rather guilty feeling" and enjoyed the project she had undertaken. Although Mary Westmacott was revealed to be Agatha Christie in 1949, it didn't stop her from publishing two more Westmacott novels, still under her pseudonym. This is another affirmation that Agatha could write more than just great detective stories. Structure Edit The focus of the Mary Westmacott novel's is human relationship. There's even a hint of autobiographical elements that Christie inserts. There are several themes, to briefly mention a few: possessiveness, failure in human perception, nature and the inequality of love, self-evaluation, and awareness of one's and others' feelings. In the books there are even contemplation of suicide and supernatural elements. Hick's Essay Edit To celebrate Agatha Christie’s Centenary, Rosalind Hicks , Agatha Christie's daughter, wrote an essay on the Westmacott novels.

We have reproduced this here: “As early as 1930, my mother wrote her first novel using the name “Mary Westmacott”. These novels, six in all, were a complete departure from the usual sphere of Agatha Christie “Queen of Crime”. The name Mary Westmacott was chosen after some thought. Mary was Agatha’s second name and Westmacott the name of some distant relatives. She succeeded in keeping her identity as Mary Westmacott unknown for nearly twenty years and the books, much to her pleasure, were modestly successful. Giant’s Bread was first published in 1930 and was to be the first of six books under this nom de plume. It is a novel about Vernon Deyre, his childhood, his family, the two women he loved and his obsession with music. My mother had some experience of the musical world having been trained as a singer and a concert pianist in Paris when she was young. She was interested in modern music, and tried to express the feelings and ambitions of the singer and the composer. There is a lot about childhood and the First World War taken from her own experiences.

Her publishers, Collins, were not very enthusiastic about this change of direction in her work as she was at this time becoming quite well known in the world of detective fiction. They needn’t have worried. In 1930 she also published The Mysterious Mr. Quin and, Murder at the Vicarage – Miss Marple’s first book. During the next ten years there followed no less than sixteen full length Poirot stories including such titles as Murder on the Orient Express , The A.B.C. Murders , Death on the Nile , and Appointment with Death . Her second Mary Westmacott book Unfinished Portrait was published in 1934. It also relied a lot on her own experiences and early life. In 1944 she published Absent in the Spring . She wrote in her autobiography : “Shortly after that, I wrote the one book that has satisfied me completely. It was a new Mary Westmacott, the book that I had always wanted to write, that had been clear in my mind. It was the picture of a woman with a complete image of herself, of what she was, but about which she was completely mistaken.

Through her own actions, her own feelings and thoughts, this would be revealed to the reader. She would be, as it were, continually meeting herself, not recognising herself, but becoming increasingly uneasy. What brought about this revelation would be the fact that for the first time in her life she was alone – completely alone – for four or five days. “I wrote that book in three days flat…I went straight through…I don’t think I have ever been so tired…I didn’t want to change a word and although I don’t know myself of course what it is really like, it was written as I meant to write it, and that is the proudest joy and author can have.” I think Absent in the Spring combines many talents from Agatha Christie, the detective story writer. It is very well constructed, compulsive reading. You get a wonderfully clear picture of all the family from the thoughts of one woman alone in the desert – really quite a triumph. In 1947 she wrote The Rose and the Yew Tree . This was a great favourite of hers and of mine too. It is a haunting and beautiful story.

Strangely enough Collins didn’t like it and as they hadn’t been very kind about any of the Mary Westmacotts, she took it to Heinemann who published this and her last two books – A Daughter’s a Daughter (1952) and The Burden (1956). The Mary Westmacott books have been described as romantic novels but I don’t think that is really a fair assessment. They are not ‘love stories’ in the general sense of the term, and they certainly have no happy endings. They are, I believe, about love in some of its most powerful and destructive forms. The possessive love of a mother for her child, or a child for its mother in both Giant’s Bread and Unfinished Portrait. The battle between the widowed mother and her grown-up daughter in A Daughter’s a Daughter . A girl’s obsession with her younger sister in The Burden and the closeness of love to hate – the Burden in this story being the weight of one person’s love on someone else.

Mary Westmacott never enjoyed the same critical acclaim as Agatha Christie , but the books achieved some recognition in a minor way and she was pleased when people enjoyed them – she was able to fulfil her wish to write something different.” Agatha Christie - Author of 82 Detective Novels Agatha Christie Agatha Christie Author of 82 Detective Novels British writer of crime and detective fiction, Dame Agatha Christie. (1954). (Photo by Walter Bird/Getty Images) By Shelly Schwartz, Contributing History Writer Updated April 30, 2016. Who Was Agatha Christie? Agatha Christie was one of the most successful crime novelists and playwrights of the 20th century. Her lifelong shyness led her to the literary world where she conjured up detective fiction with endearing characters, including the world-famous detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Not only did Christie write 82 detective novels, but she also wrote an autobiography, a series of six romance novels (under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott), and 19 plays, including The Mousetrap, the world’s longest running theatrical play in London.

Over 30 of her murder mystery novels have been made into motion pictures, including Witness for the Prosecution (1957), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), and Death on the Nile (1978). Dates: September 15, 1890 – January 12, 1976 Also Known As: Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller; Dame Agatha Christie; Mary Westmacott (pseudonym); Queen of Crime Growing Up On September 15, 1890, Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born the daughter of Frederick Miller and Clara Miller (née Boehmer) in the seaside resort town of Torquay, England. continue reading below our video 10 Best Universities in the United States Frederick, an easy going, independently wealthy American stockbroker, and Clara, an Englishwoman, raised their three children -- Margaret, Monty, and Agatha -- in an Italian-style stucco mansion complete with servants. Agatha was educated in her happy, peaceful home via a mixture of tutors and “Nursie,” her nanny. Agatha was an avid reader, especially Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series.

She and her friends enjoyed acting out gloomy stories where everyone died, which Agatha wrote herself. She played croquet and took piano lessons; however, her extreme shyness kept her from publicly performing. In 1901, when Agatha was 11, her father died of a heart attack. Frederick had made some bad investments, leaving his family financially unprepared for his untimely death. Although Clara was able to keep their home since the mortgage was paid, she was forced to make several household cuts, including the staff. Rather than home tutors, Agatha went to Miss Guyer’s School in Torquay; Monty joined the army; and Margaret married. For high school, Agatha went to a finishing school in Paris where her mother hoped her daughter would become an opera singer. Although good at singing, Agatha’s stage fright once again prevented her from publicly performing. After her graduation, she and her mother traveled to Egypt, which would inspire her writing. Becoming Agatha Christie, Crime Writer In 1914, the sweet, shy, 24-year-old Agatha met 25-year-old Archibald Christie , an aviator, who was in complete contrast to her personality.

The couple married December 24, 1914, and Agatha Miller became Agatha Christie. A member of the royal Flying Corps during World War I , daring Archibald returned to his unit the day after Christmas, while Agatha Christie became a volunteer nurse for the ill and injured of the war, many of whom were Belgians. In 1915, she became a hospital-dispensing pharmacist, which gave her an education in poisons. In 1916, Agatha Christie wrote a death-by-poison murder mystery in her spare time, mostly due to her sister Margaret challenging her to do so. Christie titled the novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles and introduced a Belgian inspector she invented named Hercule Poirot (a character who would appear in 33 of her novels). Christie and her husband were reunited after the war and lived in London where Archibald received a job with the Air Ministry in 1918. Their daughter Rosalind was born on August 5, 1919.

Six publishers turned down Christie’s novel before John Lane in the US published it in 1920 and subsequently published by Bodley Head in the UK in 1921. Christie’s second book,The Secret Adversary, was published in 1922. That same year, Christie and Archibald set sail on a voyage to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Canada as part of the British trade mission. Rosalind stayed behind with her Aunt Margaret for ten months. Agatha Christie’s Personal Mystery By 1924, Agatha Christie had published six novels. After Christie’s mother died of bronchitis in 1926, Archibald, who was having an affair, asked Christie for a divorce. Christie left her home on December 3, 1926; her car was found abandoned and Christie was missing. Archibald was immediately suspected. After a police hunt for 11 days, Christie turned up at the Harrogate Hotel, using a name patterned after Archibald’s mistress, and saying she had amnesia.

Some suspected that she actually had a nervous breakdown, others suspected that she wanted to upset her husband, and the police suspected that she wanted to sell more books. Archibald and Christie divorced April 1, 1928. Needing to get away, Agatha Christie boarded the Orient Express in 1930 from France to the Middle East. On tour at a dig site in Ur she met an archaeologist named Max Mallowan , a big fan of hers. Fourteen years his senior, Christie enjoyed his company, finding out that they both worked in the business of uncovering “clues.” After they married on September 11, 1930, Christie often accompanied him, living and writing from Mallowan’s archeological sites, further inspiring her novels’ settings. The couple remained happily married for 45 years, until Agatha Christie’s death. Agatha Christie, the Playwright In October 1941, Agatha Christie wrote a play titled Black Coffee.

After writing several more plays , Christie wrote The Mousetrap in July 1951 for Queen Mary’s 80th birthday; the play became the longest continuously running play in the West End of London, since 1952. Christie received the Edgar Grand Master Award in 1955. In 1957, when Christie became ill living at the archaeological digs, Mallowan decided to retire from Nimrud in northern Iraq. The couple returned to England where they busied themselves with writing projects. In 1968, Mallowan was knighted for his contributions to archaeology. In 1971, Christie was appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire, the equivalent of knighthood, for her services to literature. Death of Agatha Christie On January 12, 1976, Agatha Christie died at home in Oxfordshire at the age of 85 of natural causes. Her body was interred at Cholsey Churchyard, Cholsey, Oxfordshire, England. Her autobiography was published posthumously in 1977.

Agatha Christie | Feedbooks Italian Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), commonly known as Agatha Christie, was an English crime fiction writer. She also wrote romance novels under the name Mary Westmacott, but is best remembered for her 80 detective novels and her successful West End theatre plays. Her works, particularly featuring detectives Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple, have given… (more) Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), commonly known as Agatha Christie, was an English crime fiction writer. She also wrote romance novels under the name Mary Westmacott, but is best remembered for her 80 detective novels and her successful West End theatre plays. Her works, particularly featuring detectives Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple, have given her the title the 'Queen of Crime' and made her one of the most important and innovative writers in the development of the genre.

Christie has been called — by the Guinness Book of World Records, among others — the best-selling writer of books of all time, and the best-selling writer of any kind together with William Shakespeare. Only the Bible sold more with about 6 billion copies. An estimated four billion copies of her novels have been sold. UNESCO states that she is currently the most translated individual author in the world with only the collective corporate works of Walt Disney Productions superseding her. As an example of her broad appeal, she is the all-time best-selling author in France, with over 40 million copies sold in French (as of 2003) versus 22 million for Emile Zola, the nearest contender. Her stage play, The Mousetrap, holds the record for the longest initial run in the world, opening at the Ambassadors Theatre in London on 25 November 1952, and as of 2007 is still running after more than 20,000 performances.

In 1955, Christie was the first recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's highest honor, the Grand Master Award, and in the same year, Witness for the Prosecution was given an Edgar Award by the MWA, for Best Play. Most of her books and short stories have been filmed, some many times over (Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, 4.50 From Paddington), and many have been adapted for television, radio, video games and comics. In 1998, the control of the rights to most of the literary works of Agatha Christie passed to the company Chorion, when it purchased a majority 64% share in Agatha Christie Limited.

Source: Wikipedia Agatha Christie, Mary Westmacott - AbeBooks Agatha Christie, Mary Westmacott Results (1 - 30) of 515 1 ISBN 10: 055335082X ISBN 13: 9780553350821 Used ISBN 10: 0515091200 ISBN 13: 9780515091205 Used Mass Market Paperback ISBN 10: 0515091200 ISBN 13: 9780515091205 Used Mass Market Paperback ISBN 10: 0515091200 ISBN 13: 9780515091205 Used Mass Market Paperback ISBN 10: 0515091200 ISBN 13: 9780515091205 Used Mass Market Paperback ISBN 10: 0515091200 ISBN 13: 97805

15091205 Used Mass Market Paperback ISBN 10: 0515091200 ISBN 13: 9780515091205 Used Mass Market Paperback ISBN 10: 0515091200 ISBN 13: 9780515091205 Used Mass Market Paperback ISBN 10: 0515091200 ISBN 13: 9780515091205 Used Mass Market Paperback mary Westmacott, A.k.a.

Agatha Christie Published by Dell, 1971 (1971) Used Christie, Agatha, writing as Mary Westmacott Published by HarperCollins (2009) ISBN 10: 000649949X ISBN 13: 9780006499497 Used Paperback Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: HarperCollins, 2009. Paperback. Book Condition: Good. Good condition is defined as: a copy that has been read but remains in clean condition. All of the pages are intact and the cover is intact and the spine may show signs of wear. The book may have minor markings which are not specifically mentioned. Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day.

Bookseller Inventory # mon0006195308 Christie, Agatha, writing as Mary Westmacott Published by HarperCollins (2009) ISBN 10: 0006499481 ISBN 13: 9780006499480 Used Paperback Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: HarperCollins, 2009. Paperback. Book Condition: Good. Darkened tan to the page edges. Good condition is defined as: a copy that has been read but remains in clean condition. All of the pages are intact and the cover is intact and the spine may show signs of wear. The book may have minor markings which are not specifically mentioned. Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day.

Bookseller Inventory # mon0006215422 ISBN 10: 0006499503 ISBN 13: 9780006499503 Used ISBN 10: 0877950571 ISBN 13: 9780877950578 Used ISBN 10: 0515093815 ISBN 13: 9780515093810 Used Mass Market Paperback Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Jove, 1988. Mass Market Paperback. Book Condition: Good. 189 pages; spine creasing, edge wear; This compelling novel by Agatha Christie, writing as Mary Westmacott, is the tale of lovely Isabella Charteris and the lessons she must learn as her world of grace and breeding ends with World War II.

Bookseller Inventory # 024273 Mary Westmacott -(also Known as Agatha christie) Published by Fontanta/Collins ISBN 10: 0006167225 ISBN 13: 9780006167228 Used Paperback ISBN 10: 0425068072 ISBN 13: 9780425068076 Used Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Berkley, 1984. Book Condition: Used. This Book is in Good Condition. Clean Copy With Light Amount of Wear. 100% Guaranteed. Summary: Dame Agatha Christie is the world's best-known mystery writer. Her books have sold over two billion copies worldwide and have been translated into 44 foreign languages. During a writing career that spanned more than half a century, she created two of the world's most famous detectives. Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple.

The author of 79 novels and short story collections, she was also an accomplished playwright--one of her 14 plays, The Mousetrap , is the longest-running play in history. She published six romantic novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott and wrote four non-fiction books, including an autobiography. Several of her books, including Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile , were made into hugely successful films. She died in 1976. Bookseller Inventory # ABE_book_usedgood_0425068072 Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Berkley, 1984. Book Condition: Used. This Book is in Good Condition. Clean Copy With Light Amount of Wear. 100% Guaranteed. Summary: Dame Agatha Christie is the world's best-known mystery writer. Her books have sold over two billion copies worldwide and have been translated into 44 foreign languages. During a writing career that spanned more than half a century, she created two of the world's most famous detectives. Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple.

The author of 79 novels and short story collections, she was also an accomplished playwright--one of her 14 plays, The Mousetrap , is the longest-running play in history. She published six romantic novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott and wrote four non-fiction books, including an autobiography. Several of her books, including Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile , were made into hugely successful films. She died in 1976. Bookseller Inventory # ABE_book_usedgood_0425068056 Destination, Rates & Speeds Item Description: Berkley, 1984. Book Condition: Used. This Book is in Good Condition. Clean Copy With Light Amount of Wear. 100% Guaranteed. Summary: Dame Agatha Christie is the world's best-known mystery writer. Her books have sold over two billion copies worldwide and have been translated into 44 foreign languages. During a writing career that spanned more than half a century, she created two of the world's most famous detectives. Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple.

The author of 79 novels and short story collections, she was also an accomplished playwright--one of her 14 plays, The Mousetrap , is the longest-running play in history. She published six romantic novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott and wrote four non-fiction books, including an autobiography. Several of her books, including Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile , were made into hugely successful films. She died in 1976. Bookseller Inventory # ABE_book_usedgood_0425067920 1000+ images about Agatha Christie (also wrote under the name Mary Westmacott) on Pinterest | British, Hercule poirot and Devon Pinterest • The world’s catalog of ideas Agatha Christie (also wrote under the name Mary Westmacott) My Favorite Author. I never get enough of her works 185 Pins82 Followers Agatha Christie Agatha Christie Location of death: Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England Cause of death: Natural Causes Remains: Buried, St.

Mary's Churchyard, Cholsey, Oxfordshire, England Gender: Female Nationality: England Executive summary: Mystery novelist Agatha Christie was a prolific and extremely popular British author and playwright best known for her work in the murder mystery genre. From her first novel in 1920, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, to the reprints of her novels that still appear today, some 30 years after her death, Agatha Christie's works have enjoyed unparalleled success. But while Christie and her favorite characters, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, have become icons of "who dunnit" detective fiction, the scope of Christie's popularity is such that that sales of her books have not only surpassed that of any other mystery writer, but of all other writers of any genre. Not even William Shakespeare has been so widely read. In fact, according to the Guinness Book of World Records over 2 billion copies of her books have sold and her works have been translated into more than 100 languages. Only the Christian Bible has outstripped her in readership. Many of Christie's works have been translated into film, most notably Murder on the Orient Express (1974).

Her short stories, plays, and novels have also been adapted to television, radio, and at least one video game (And Then There Were None, 2005). In addition Christie boasts the longest running play in the world: The Mousetrap, which she originally wrote as a birthday gift for Queen Mary. Christie received numerous honors during her lifetime including the Mystery Writers of America�s Grand Master Award (1955) and the order of Dame Commander of the British Empire (1971). In addition to her more famous mysteries, Christie wrote some lesser known romantic novels under the pen name Mary Westmacott. Agatha Christie was born Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller on September 15, 1890 in Torquay, England. Her father was an American citizen, of modest private income, who home schooled her in mathematics. But when young Agatha was 11 years old he died, and she thereafter began attending regular classes in arithmetic and other subjects. She was an avid reader as well and soon became a great fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle , especially his Sherlock Holmes mystery stories.

Her love of writing surfaced early as well, nurtured both by her mother and by neighboring novelist Eden Philpotts (best known for his Dartmoor series). Of this period Agatha Christie remarked, "For some years I enjoyed myself very much writing stories of unrelieved gloom where most of the characters died." Music and dance had always been an important part of her curriculum. So when Agatha's mother sent her off to Paris a few years later, for further schooling, it was with the hope that Agatha might one day emerge as an opera star. But although she did well in singing and music lessons Agatha developed terrible stage fright, making a career involving any kind of public performance utterly out of the question. After graduation Agatha and her mother embarked on an exciting 3 month tour of Egypt, a very fashionable "wintering" spot for English society of that period. But while other English folk went for the novelty and the chic, young Agatha felt in love with the history and with Middle Eastern ambience. The romance and the mystery of other cultures and of great civilizations long gone intrigued her greatly and became fuel a number of her later books, as well as a life long love of archaeology. But all that was in the distant future.

When she returned to England Agatha found romance and adventure of a different kind. She met and married Archibald Christie, a handsome young Lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery. That same year, 1914, World War I began. And like many other patriotic young women the 24 year old Agatha began volunteering her time for the war effort. She became a nurse at a Red Cross Hospital in Torquay, and eventually she took a post in the dispensary. There she gained an intimate knowledge of pharmaceutical drugs and their preparation and uses -- including their lethal dosages. Meanwhile her love of writing and mysteries still flourished, and she began to think about writing her own novel. In 1916, egged on by her sister Madge, she decided to have a go at it. Setting the interruptions of daily life aside, she checked into the Moorland Hotel in Dartmoor. In just three weeks she managed to crank out her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

The novel debuted her now famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, the quirky yet logical little Poirot who would eventually appear in 39 novels, including his 1975 swan song, Curtain, published shortly before Christie's death. But although finished quickly, the book took nearly four years to find publication. But once the reading public had gotten a taste of Agatha Christie's work, her success as an author was assured. Her second book The Secret Adversary soon followed in 1922, starring lesser known characters Tommy and Tuppence. (Miss Marple would not appear until 1930.) And soon she was publishing at least one book per year -- with nearly everything she produced selling astonishingly well. But life on the home front meanwhile was not so successful. Despite the birth of daughter Rosalind in 1919 and their mutual economic success, the Christies were drifting apart. Eventually, in 1926, Archie admitted he had a mistress and asked for a divorce. The highly sensitive Agatha was crushed. But what followed immediately after has haunted the legend of the great writer ever since.

On the evening of Friday, December 3, 1926, Agatha Christie went upstairs to kiss her daughter goodnight. Then, at 9:45 p.m., she got into car and drove away. Later the vehicle was found abandoned several miles from home, with many of Agatha�s personal belongings strewn about inside. There was no sign of Agatha herself however. Immediately a huge search was mounted, and the case attracted tremendous attention from the media as well as various public figures, including the Home Secretary. As if the line between mystery novel and reality was not blurry enough, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was sought out to consult on the case as was mystery writer and Dorothy L. Sayers . Agatha�s husband Archie meanwhile, who had been away for the weekend with his girlfriend, became the object of tremendous scorn and suspicion, with members of the public alternately conjecturing that he had done his wife in, or driven her to suicide. But 11 days later Agatha Christie was found, alive, at the Harrogate Hydropathic Hotel. Most curious of all, she had registered herself under a name patterned after her husband's mistress.

According to a public statements made by police and family, Agatha was allegedly suffering from amnesia. Agatha herself never commented publicly on the event, and nowhere in her autobiographies is it mentioned. Christie enthusiasts and biographers continue to puzzle over the incident therefore. Was it a publicity stunt to raise book sales, as the police suspected? Or perhaps it was an attempt to embarrass her husband and ruin his weekend tryst with mistress Nancy Neele, as suggested by biographer Jared Cade ( Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days, 1999). There are even those who claim her tale of amnesiac confusion was legitimate, that she�d had a particularly severe nervous breakdown (Agatha Christie: The Finished Portrait, 2006, Dr. Andrew Norman). A fictionalized 1979 film treatment of the subject, Agatha, starring Dustin Hoffman and Vanessa Redgrave even portrayed a confused Christie held virtual prisoner at Harrogate, receiving shock treatments to alter her mental state. Although speculation continues, many believe her novel Unfinished Portrait (1934), written as Mary Westmacott, gives clues to the emotional turmoil she was experiencing prior to her disappearance.

In it a woman writer, remarkably similar to the real life Christie, is driven to the edge of suicide by the shock of her husband�s demand for divorce. In any event, despite remaining together for a time after the scandal, the Christies ultimately divorced in 1928. Several months later Agatha decided to go on a holiday, someplace exotic and foreign. She ended up aboard the Orient Express, headed for the Middle East. But even though the train ride provided fodder and inspiration for her later book, Murder on the Orient Express (1934), her final destination proved dreadfully boring. Arriving at last in Baghdad, Christie soon found herself bogged down in polite English society, and all usual accouterments. She felt that if all she had wanted was to do was play tennis and attend tea parties she could have stayed at home. Christie was aware however that some exciting archaeological work was being done farther south in Iraq, at the site of the biblical city of Ur. And she realized she could escape her implacably English hosts by arranging a visit to the dig site. As it turned out the wife of the chief archaeologist on site was a big fan of Christie's and an extended stay was easy to arrange.

There at last she immersed herself in the exotic foreign world she had come to explore -- strange foods, customs, the bustle of native workers. But as it turned out, watching the ancient past emerge from the sands had a romance all its own. And the intellectual work of archaeology, figuring out the past from clues left behind, was a great deal like detective work. So, although she had to return to England, she eagerly accepted an invitation to return again the following year. When she did, she was assigned a handsome young archaeologist, Max Mallowan, to show her around and explain what had been learned during the year�s excavation. Agatha enjoyed his company as much as she did the tour itself. But of course she was certain he would never be interested in an "old lady" like herself, 14 years his senior. But when a family emergency called Agatha back to England, Max insisted on accompanying her. Six months later they were married. It proved to be the beginning of a life of mutual respect, support, and adventuring with Agatha accompanying Max into the field for excavations as often as possible. She even became the expedition photographer and was a crack hand at cleaning and restoring artifacts.

What's more she loved reconstructing fragments of pottery and other artifacts, likening it to doing a jigsaw puzzle. According to Max, she had a meticulous manner, a keen eye, and seemingly endless patience. Meanwhile she continued to write her novels, with many of her stories inspired by the settings and characters she�d encountered on their travels. The hefty earnings from her books meant she and Max were never short of revenue for their expeditions or any of Max�s other academic forays. But by 1957 Agatha found it more difficult to manage camp life, especially in the rainy season. Indeed she was so plagued by illness that year Max decided to call it quits. They retired from Nimrud and returned to England, where they busied themselves with writing and other projects. In 1968 Max was knighted for services to archaeology, and he was made a trustee of the British Museum in 1973. Agatha, in the meantime, was named the world's best-selling author in the English language (UNESCO, 1961), and was created a Dame Commander of the British Empire (1971). She continued writing of course, and she became increasingly involved with the theater and film.

Before long any play with her name attached became an instant sensation. But on January 12, 1976, Agatha Christie died, following a short illness.She was 86 years old. Max's memoirs, published the following year, cited his feelings of emptiness after 45 years of a loving and creative partnership with Agatha. Nonetheless he did remarry however, in September of 1977 to Barbara Parker, a long time friend and work associate from the excavation at Nimrud. Parker was one of a handful of women with whom he is rumored to have had an affair. Less than a year later, on August 19, 1978, Mallowan himself died. Despite the fact that Max Mallowan was considered one of the premier anthropologists of his day, it is his wife, Agatha Christie Mallowan, which the public best remembers. Although as private, self-effacing and polite as her favorite character, Miss Marple, Dame Agatha made it clear to her readers that a shrewd and creative intelligence could be a thoroughly feminine virtue. Father: Frederick Alvah Miller Mother: Clarissa Boehmer (d.

1926) Husband: Archibald Christie (m. 24-Nov-1914, div. Apr-1928, one daughter) Daughter: Rosalind Hicks (b. 8-May-1919, d. 28-Oct-2004) Husband: Sir Max Mallowan (archaeologist, m. 11-Sep-1930) Agatha Mary Clarissa Mallowan (Miller) (1890 - 1976) - Genealogy ex-husband's child About Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Christie (born Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller) was the best selling mystery author of all time and the only writer to have created two major detectives, Poirot and Marple, as well as having written the longest-running play in the modern theater, The Mousetrap. She also wrote romance novels under the name Mary Westmacott. The daughter of an American father and a British mother, Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born at Torquay in the United Kingdom on September 15, 1890. Her family was comfortable, although not wealthy, and she was educated at home, with later study in Paris.

In 1914 she was married to Col. Archibald Christie; the marriage produced one daughter. In 1920 Christie launched a career which made her the most popular mystery writer of all time. Her total output reached 93 books and 17 plays; she was translated into 103 languages (even more than Shakespeare); and her sales have passed the 400 million mark and are still going strong. It was in her first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), that Christie introduced one of her two best-known detectives, Hercule Poirot, and his amanuensis, Captain Hastings. Her debt to the Sherlock Holmes stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is manifest in the books in which this pair appears. Like Holmes, Poirot is a convinced and convincing spokesman for the human rational faculty (he places his faith in "the little grey cells"), uses his long-suffering companion as a sort of echo-chamber, and even has a mysterious and exotically-named brother who works for the government. Captain Hastings, like Dr.

John Watson a retired military man, has much in common with his prototype: he is trusting, bumbling, and superingenuous, and by no means an intellectual. Yet occasionally he wins applause from the master by making an observation which by its egregious stupidity illuminates some corner previously dark in the inner recesses of the great mind. There is even a copy of Conan Doyle's ineffectual Inspector Lestrade in the person of Inspector Japp. While writing in imitation of Conan Doyle, Christie experimented with a whole gallery of other sleuths. Tuppence and Tommy Beresford, whose specialty was ferreting out espionage, made their debut in The Secret Adversary (1922); their insouciant, almost frivolous approach to detection provided a sharp contrast to that of Poirot. The enigmatic, laconic Colonel Race appeared first in The Man in the Brown Suit (1924), but, since his principal sphere of activity was the colonies, he was used only sporadically thereafter.

Superintendent Battle, stolid, dependable, and hardworking, came onto the scene in The Secret of Chimneys (1925) and later solved The Seven Dials Mystery (1929), but probably because of a lack of charisma was relegated to a subordinate role after that. Others who debuted during this experimental period were the weird pair of the other-worldly Harley Quin and his fussbudgety, oldmaidish "contact," Mr. Satterthwaite, and the ingenious Parker Pyne, who specialized not in solving murders, but in manipulating the lives of others so as to bring them happiness and/or adventure. Pyne was often fortunate enough to have the assistance of Mrs. Ariadne Oliver, the mystery novelist who bore an uncanny resemblance to her creator. The year 1926 was a watershed year for Christie. It saw the publication of her first hugely successful novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, in which the narrator is the murderer, a plot twist that provoked great controversy about the ethics of the mystery writer. It was also a year of personal tragedy: her mother died, and then she discovered that her husband was in love with another woman.

She suffered a nervous breakdown and on December 6 disappeared from her home; subsequently her car was found abandoned in a chalk-pit. Ten days later, acting on a tip, police found her in a Harrogate hotel, where she had been staying the entire time, although registered under the name of the woman with whom her husband was having his affair. She claimed to have had amnesia, and the case was not pursued further. The divorce came two years later. In 1930 she married Sir Max Mallowan, a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and one of Britain's foremost archaeologists. She often accompanied him on his digs in Iraq and Syria and placed some of her novels in those countries. In Come, Tell Me How You Live (1946) she wrote a humorous account of some of her expeditions with her husband. Also in 1930, writing under the penname of Mary Westmacott, she published Giant's Bread, the first of six romances, none of which showed distinction. In that same year in Murder at the Vicarage, undoubtedly the best-written Christie novel, she first presented Jane Marple, who became one of her favorite sleuths and showed up frequently thereafter.

Miss Marple was one of those paradoxes in whom readers delight: behind the Victorian, tea-and-crumpets, crocheted-antimacassar facade was a mind coldly aware of the frailty of all human beings and the depravity of some. In the mid-1930s Christie began to produce novels that bore her unique stamp. In them she arranged a situation which was implausible, if not actually impossible, and into this unrealistic framework placed characters who acted realistically for the most realistic of motives. In Murder in the Calais Coach (1934) the murder is done with the connivance of a dozen people; in And Then There Were None (1939) nine murderers are invited to an island to be dispatched by an ex-judge with an implacable sense of justice; in Easy to Kill (1939) four murders are committed in a miniscule town without any suspicions being aroused; in A Murder Is Announced (1950) the killer advertises in advance. Also interesting in these books is Christie's philosophy that it is quite acceptable to kill a killer, particularly one whose crime is a heinous one.

In addition to her fiction, her archaeological reminiscences, the children's book Star over Bethlehem (1965), a collection of her poetry (1973), and her autobiography (1977), Christie authored 17 plays. Her own favorite was Witness for the Prosecution (1953), based on one of her novellas, but the public disagreed. The Mousetrap opened in London in 1952 and played there for over three decades, a run unparalleled in theater history. Many of her mysteries were made into movies--And Then There Were None three times--with the most successful those in which Margaret Rutherford portrayed Miss Marple. In 1998, her play Black Coffee (1930) was adapted into a novel by Charles Osborne, with permission from Christie's literary executors. Named a Dame of the British Empire in 1971, Christie died on January 12, 1976. ---------------------------- Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), mainly known as Agatha Christie, was an English crime fiction writer.

She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but is chiefly remembered for her 66 detective novels. Her work with these novels, particularly featuring detectives Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple, have given her the title the 'Queen of Crime' and made her one of the most important and innovative writers in the development of the genre. Christie has been called—by the Guinness Book of World Records, among others—the best-selling writer of books of all time, and the best-selling writer of any kind second only to William Shakespeare. An estimated one billion copies of her novels have been sold in English, and another billion in 103 other languages.[1] As an example of her broad appeal, she is the all-time best-selling author in France, with over 40 million copies sold in French (as of 2003) versus 22 million for Emile Zola, the nearest contender. Her stage play, The Mousetrap, holds the record for the longest run ever in London, opening at the Ambassadors Theatre on 25 November 1952, and as of 2007 is still running after more than 20,000 performances.

In 1955, Christie was the first recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's highest honor, the Grand Master Award, and in the same year, Witness for the Prosecution was given an Edgar Award by the MWA, for Best Play. Most of her books and short stories have been filmed, some many times over (Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, 4.50 From Paddington), and many have been adapted for television, radio, video games and comics. In 1998, the control of the rights to most of the literary works of Agatha Christie passed to the company Chorion, when it purchased a majority 64% share in Agatha Christie Limited.[2]

Question: Who wrote romantic navels under the name Mary Westmacott?
Answer: AGATHA CHRISTIE